"Does your head... still hurt?"
This unexpected question left Su Nian stunned. Looking into Xie Chen's unfathomable, seemingly endlessly weary dark eyes, she was momentarily at a loss for words. The expected interrogation, rage, or cold scrutiny did not materialize; instead, there was an almost eerie calm, and a seemingly ordinary yet subtly undercurrent of concern.
"...I'm alright." She answered hesitantly, her voice hoarse from weakness.
Xie Chen didn't speak again, only nodded slightly. He stood up, his movements slightly hesitant as he poured a glass of warm water and handed it to her. The whole process was silent and natural, yet it gave Su Nian an unprecedented sense of unfamiliarity. The Xie Chen before her was like a rock smoothed by a storm, all its sharp edges smoothed out, leaving only a deep, unsettling silence.
He didn't press for any details from last night, nor did he explain his own unusual behavior, as if the battle that nearly destroyed the two of them, and even the consciousness of this space, was just a dream. But this deliberate avoidance was itself the most unusual thing.
Over the next few days, the atmosphere in the apartment became quite subtle. Xie Chen stopped leaving early and returning late, spending most of his time in the study, but occasionally appearing in the living room to silently read or handle some documents. He no longer restricted Su Nian's movements, and even tacitly allowed her to take short walks in the garden downstairs, accompanied by bodyguards.
This limited "freedom" did not make Su Nian feel at ease; instead, it felt like an invisible thread tugging at her nerves. She could sense that Xie Chen was observing her, in a more profound and restrained way than before. His gaze was no longer aggressively scrutinizing, but rather seemed to be looking through her, confirming something, or rather, resisting something.
Su Nian carefully maintained a calm demeanor, but inwardly she was constantly engaged in a difficult communication with System 088.
"Is the struggle within him... over?" she asked.
“Unable to detect precisely.” 088’s response was still tinged with noise, but clearer than before. “The activity of the ‘divine fragment’ has been greatly reduced, and it has entered a deep dormant state. The target’s conscious mind has regained dominance, but… its spiritual core has undergone a deeper fusion with the fragment, and its stability is unknown.”
"What about the Main God Space?"
"Multiple high-dimensional scans detected... Recycling command is in standby mode. Warning: Any excessive stimulation may reactivate fragments or trigger the cleanup process."
Su Nian understood her current predicament—walking on a thin tightrope, with a potentially rampaging "god" below and the ever-watchful Main God Space above. The key to maintaining this balance lay in the fragile and peculiar "emotional connection" between her and Xie Chen.
She began to observe Xie Chen more closely. She noticed that he would occasionally stare out the window in a daze, his fingers unconsciously stroking the ring engraved with "RS"; his sleep was still very light, but he no longer had the intense nightmares he used to have, though his brows were always habitually furrowed, as if he were carrying an invisible burden.
That evening, Su Nian was arranging flowers in the living room—a new way she had found to calm her mind. Xie Chen came out of his study and stood quietly a short distance away, watching for a moment.
"Iris?" he suddenly asked.
Su Nian's fingers trembled, and a blue iris nearly fell. He rarely initiated conversations with her about such trivial matters.
"Mmm," she replied softly.
"It symbolizes love in despair." Xie Chen's tone was flat, revealing no emotion.
Su Nian's heart sank slightly. Was he implying something?
However, he then changed the subject, his gaze falling on her slightly pale fingers: "Is the injury on your fingers healed?"
It was a tiny scratch left from an accidental collision, one she had almost forgotten. But he remembered it.
This contradictory state of being sometimes distant and sometimes showing subtle care lasted for nearly a week. Until one late night, Su Nian was awakened by a very soft, suppressed cough. The sound came from the master bedroom—Xie Chen's room.
As if possessed, she got out of bed and gently pushed open the door a crack.
Xie Chen wasn't asleep. He leaned against the headboard, one hand covering his mouth, trying his best to suppress a cough, his shoulders trembling slightly from the effort. The dim light from the bedside lamp outlined his slightly pale profile and the fine beads of cold sweat on his forehead. In his other hand, he held the yellowed photograph of his mother.
His eyes were no longer calm as they had been during the day, but filled with the pain of struggle and a deep, almost overwhelming sorrow. He looked at the photograph, his lips moving silently, as if speaking to someone, or as if enduring some kind of endless torment alone.
Su Nian stood outside the door, watching this scene, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She knew that the battle for consciousness had not left no trace. Beneath the surface calm, he was alone battling the chaos brought about by the fusion, the pain of the past, and... the possible residual effects from the "fragments of godhood."
She neither went in nor left. She simply stood there quietly, like a silent witness.
After a long while, Xie Chen's cough gradually subsided. He closed his eyes wearily, clutching the photo tightly to his chest, as if grasping at the last straw.
Just then, he seemed to sense something, and suddenly opened his eyes, his sharp gaze shooting straight at the crack in the door!
Su Nian was startled and instinctively wanted to back away.
"Come in."
His voice was hoarse from coughing, yet it possessed an undeniable strength.
Su Nian froze for a moment, but finally pushed open the door and went inside.
The room was filled with a faint smell of medicine and his unique, cold aura. Xie Chen looked at her, his eyes filled with complex emotions. There was displeasure at being disturbed, deep-seated weariness, and a hint of... barely perceptible desire, as if seeking some kind of confirmation from her.
"Did I disturb you?" he asked, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.
Su Nian shook her head.
A silence fell between them. An indescribable tension hung in the air.
Finally, Xie Chen shifted his gaze back to the photo in his hand, his voice low and almost as if he were talking to himself:
"She used to... also liked irises."
Su Nian's heart skipped a beat. This was the first time he had brought up his mother to her.
She didn't reply, but just listened quietly.
“She said… blue represents hope and faith.” He paused, his fingertips gently tracing the woman’s gentle smile in the photo, his voice carrying an almost broken vulnerability, “Even in despair, one must not give up.”
These words seemed to be spoken to Su Nian, but even more so to himself.
Looking at his profile, lost in memories and pain, at his hand clutching the photograph, his knuckles white, Su Nian felt a surge of intense emotion. She wanted to tell him that she had seen those fragments of memory, that she knew his pain, that she understood the struggle he was going through...
However, she swallowed the words back down her throat.
I can't say. At least not now.
The surveillance from the Main God Space, the instability of the God Fragments, and the fragile relationship between the two, built on lies and exploitation, all prevented her from being honest.
She simply walked over, silently picked up the kettle from the bedside table, poured him another glass of warm water, and handed it to him.
Xie Chen raised his head and gave her a deep look. His gaze seemed to pierce through layers of mist, reaching the corner of her heart where the truth was hidden.
He didn't take the water glass, but slowly raised his hand, his cool fingertips gently touching the back of her hand holding the glass.
It was only a very brief contact, yet it caused both of them to tremble slightly at the same time.
He quickly withdrew his hand, as if he had been burned. A chaotic golden light flashed in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.
"Get out." He closed his eyes, his voice returning to its usual coldness, tinged with a barely perceptible hint of embarrassment.
Su Nian put down her water glass and silently left the room.
The moment the door closed, she clearly heard a suppressed, low growl, like that of a trapped beast, coming from inside.
The suspense builds at this moment—the male protagonist, seemingly instinctively drawn to the female protagonist in his pain, is then forcefully pushed away by the unstable forces within him and external threats. Is this brief touch and the vulnerability he reveals a chance for their relationship to ease, or a harbinger of a greater storm? How will the female protagonist's situation—knowing everything yet unable to speak—develop? All awaits to be revealed in the next chapter.
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